Tom Izzo raves over job Jerome Tang has done

Tom Izzo sees a fair bit of his coaching self in Jerome Tang, his counterpart on the opposite bench as Michigan State takes on Kansas State in the Sweet Sixteen on Thursday evening. Much like Izzo took over the Spartans 28 years ago without being a high-level college head coach, Tang became the Wildcats head man this season after nearly two decades as an assistant at Baylor.

The key distinction between the two is Izzo inherited the Michigan State job from his mentor, Jud Heathcote, while Tang took the Kansas State gig after coaching alongside Scott Drew for his entire tenure at Baylor, until this year. Regardless, Izzo knows the value of being the mentee in such situations, and see how it’s benefitted Tang in Year 1.

“I spent 12 or 13 years with Jud Heathcote, and that really helped prepare me. I remember Jud saying one time, ‘Would you rather take a smaller job just so you can say you’re the head coach? Or would you rather prepare for Indiana and Michigan and Purdue every day?’ I think that helped me,” Izzo said.

He continued: “I think Scott Drew really helped Jerome. They built that program. They built it together just like I built mine with my assistants over the years. If you watch them, I think he was given a lot of power just like I was at the end. I think Scott had a lot of faith in Jerome, so he had more than just suggestive power that sometimes assistants have.”

Tang arrived at Kansas State ahead of this season with the Wildcats in a tailspin, coming off a third-straight losing season. During that stretch, the Wildcats had a 34-58 over record and won 13 total conference games in the Big 12.

While certainly unexpected, the first season under Tang was a revelation for Kansas State, with the Wildcats ripping off 25 wins and going 11-7 in arguably the best conference in the country. They earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Now Tang, a chief consigliere to Drew during Baylor’s national title run a few years ago, is two wins away from a Final Four berth in his first season at the helm at Kansas State.

And the coach trying to stop that from happening, Izzo, gave his Sweet Sixteen counterpart his due for the excellent work he’s done in his first season.

“I think he deserves a lot of credit. I think Scott Drew deserves a lot of credit, and I think it shows that we need our assistants. Assistants are more valuable than sometimes any of us give them. I think he did a lot for that Baylor program, and that’s why they had the success they had. And Scott allowed them to and helped prepare him to be a head coach, and so I’m sure he’s very grateful of that, too,” Izzo said.